There’s a big change coming to Airbnb short-term rentals in the Crescent City. Ordinances are being enforced and many Airbnb locations that aren’t in compliance are hitting the market. New Orleans City Councilman JP Morrell joined WWL’s Tommy Tucker to discuss the changes in short term rentals in New Orleans and the consequences for delinquent property owners.
“What changed on August 1st is the requirement that Airbnb has to check whether a permit is valid before listing the property.Once we did that, there was an almost immediate purge of thousands of illegal Airbnb listings. Because now that Airbnb is responsible and there’s a fine and a threat of de-listing their platform … they are the ones now in charge of making sure permits are valid. Once Airbnb has to pay the fines, they’re refusing to list properties that don’t have permits.So, it’s been a pretty dramatic drop-off in the last couple of weeks,” Morrell emphasized.
There are other short-term rental options in the area, but according to Morrell, Airbnb was specifically combative. “VRBO, which is owned by Expedia, has actually been doing the purging themselves for years. Airbnb was the bad actor that made us play whack-a-mole. Now, the playing field is level,” he told WWL’s Tommy Tucker…